________________
MAY, 1892.)
BHADRABAHU AND CHANDRAGUPTA.
157
These inscriptions undoubtedly mention Bhadrabahu, the last of the Sruta-Kévalins, and allot to him a disciple named Chandragupta. And all that we have to note here, is, that, except through the connected mention of a Chandragupta, they afford no grounds for identifying him with tho Bhadra bâhu of the inscriptions quoted in the last paragraph but two above; that they furnish no reasons for aserting that the Sruta-Kevalin Bhadrabahu ever visited Sravana-Belgola, or even came to Southern India at all, and that they give no indications of Chandragupta having been anything but an ordinary Jain teacher.
And now we come to the actual reasons that led Mr. Rice to assert the alleged facts which, in the interests of plain and reliable history, it is desirable either to substantiate or to disprove. They are to be found, partly in a compendiuin of Jain history called the Rajavali. kathe, and partly in Mr. Rice's rendering of another inscription at Sravana-Belgola, No. 1 in his book.
The essence of what the Rajavalikathe tells us is this (loc. cit. pp. 3-6): - "The “ Bhadrabahu who came to be the last of the Sruts-Kovalins, was a Brahman's son, "and was born at Kôţikapura in Pundravardhana. He interpreted sixteen dreams of “Chandragupta, the king of Pataliputra; the last of which indicated twelve years of "dearth and famine. On the commencement of the famine, Chandragupta abdicated in “ favour of his son Simhasôna, and, taking initiation in the Jain faith, joined himself to “ Bhadrabahu. Bhadrabahu, having collected a body of twelve thousand disciples, migrated " to the south, and came to a hill in the Karnataka country. There he perceived that his "end was approaching; and so, giving upadéša to Visakhacharya, he committed all the dis"ciples to his care, and sent them on to the Chola and Pandya countries. He himself remained " on the hill, and died in a oavo there, tended only by Chandragupta, who performed the “ funeral rites, and a bodo there, worshipping the foot-prints of the deceased saint. After a "timo, Sitbhasêna's son, Bhaskara, came to the place, and did obeisance to Chandragupta, and " built the city of Belgola near the hill. And eventually, Chandragupta himself died there."
In connection with this account, the value of which most people will be able to appreciate for themselves, - it is sufficient to point out two things. One is, that, whatever may be the sources on which it is based, this Jain compendium is a composition of the present century (loc. cit. p. 3). And the other is that, by a further extract from the same work, we learn (ibid. p. 9) that the Chandragupta in question was not the well-known grandfather of Aboka, - the Sandrokottos of the Greeks,- at all, but a son, otherwise quite unknown, of Asoka's son Kunala. Mr. Rice hitaself noticed this little difficulty, and got round it by suggesting (ibit. p. 10) that the introduction of two Chandraguptas seems to be due to some confusion in the traditions, and is an annecessary variation, perhaps intended to conceal the dofection of Asoka (from Jainism to the Buddhist faith). But, by snoh a process as this, - accepting as reliable an account that is perfectly valueless for historical purposes, and then directly perverting its statement, on a point of leading importanoo, by deliberately substituting a man's grandfather in the place of his grandson, - almost anything whatever in the way of imaginary history might be evolved.
It is unnecessary to follow Mr. Rice through the process by which, using what seems to be an actual fact, viz. that Bhadrabâhu, the last of the Sruta-Kévalin, was a contemporary of the great Chandragupta, he arrived (loc. cit. pp. 12, 14) at about B. C. 297 for the date of the events recorded, on his interpretation, in the inscription that still remains to be considorodi or through the steps by which he established a connection of the real Chandragupta with Southern India through the Early Guptas, the Mauryas of the Konkan, and the Gatta chieftains of the Kanareso country (ibid. pp. 10-14). We will turn now to the inscription itself.
The real purport of the inscription, No. 1 in the Sravana-Belgola volume, is as
